As I said in my previous post, we have a new grandson! Our 18th grandchild and after much debate they have given him a name.
This precious little one is
Rick, the proud grampa. When he married me he automatically became grampa to 11 grandchildren. He was so proud of that fact. However in the almost three years since we married we have added six more! Here is is with Carlie when her mom and dad showed up at Rick's work. I think I might me in trouble when he sees this picture! He was working hard and so he looks a bit like , ahhhh, like he was physically working hard.
Here is Rick as a proud step father of the bride.
My husband and I are CASA for a 13 year old boy and today was his court date. We go together, but because I need to bring our granddaughter along my husband does the talking with the judge.
As we were waiting to go into the court room I was telling Scout that she needed to be quiet in there. She is not quite 11 months old so I was not sure how much she would comprehend, but she gets a lot more than many kids her age so I thought I would give it a try. We sat outside the court room door and I told her in a whisper "shhhhhhh we need to be quiet in here. We can't talk". She looked at me and started to talk. I again said "shhhhhhh we have to whisper, we can't talk in here". With that she she put her bottom lip under her top lip and somehow made a shhhhh sound (it was more like a sssssssssssssss with a little bit of h in there). So I repeated it again and she did her version of shhhhh once more.
We went inside and she started to look around, so I reminded her of the shhhh rule. She was really good, but I knew she got it when the couple behind us began to talk in a normal voice. She stood up, turned around and very nicely told them "shhhhhhhhh", then smiled at them.
We ended up having a good day after court by going to Austin and running around the thrift shops. I love thrift shops and need a computer desk. Some of these shops have things so cheap. I had no luck on the computer desk, but a lot of laughs with Scout. She wanted to go into the "tore" with us. She would ask for a "tore" Then we heard her saying something in the back seat, and finally realized that "tocks awv" meant she was taking her socks off.
Watching a baby eat a donut hole for the first time was a delight. She was not sure what to do with this ball, and I told her to put it in her mouth and eat it. She did and we got a great big "mmmmmmmmmm"
I was getting a bit housebound lately. Just felt like there was 4 walls and the only time I got out was for things that had to get done. I don't know about you, but being in the house with a baby can get to you after a bit. I wanted so much to get out and have nowhere to go, but just go. We did a bit of that today and, even though I bought nothing, I had the best of times. God knew what He was doing when he gave us kids and we can see the joy of discovery on their faces and it brightens ours. Ahhhh simple pleasures. The best things in life are free.
Yesterday was a long day. I babysit my 10 month old granddaughter and she is very active. She is also full of a sense of humor. I normally have a lot of fun with her, but yesterday I was not feeling well and wished she was having a quiet day. NO WAY!
She does not want to sit still long enough for a diaper change. She yells at you, fights you and wiggles away over and over. I finally said "I am going to change this diaper whether you like it or not" Her reply? "Not". I then grabbed her, pulled her towards me and said "give me that hiney" She laughed like anything and said "hiney". She then bent over, putting her head down by her feet and looking at me from between her legs, but her hiney was right in my face. She laughed, I laughed but tried wrestling her down to get the diaper on. All this while I was feeling sick and not wanting to move.
From there she went on the couch and tried to get the dog to get up on the couch. The dog is not allowed, but she was trying to get her up. I informed her that she was trouble. She told me "bubble [laugh laugh]" and tried harder to get the dog up! Mind you I am also laying on the couch wrapped in a blanket.
Down she went, off to find more trouble, dog food, dog water, potty, you name it and it is a game to her. How do these guys get so much more energy on a day when you are not feeling well?
Right now I am waiting for her arrival to start today. I still do not feel well, and I know she will be all energy and all go getter. I put on my bright orange shirt with a pig on it (from some place called Piggy's Ice Cream Parlor in Hendersonville, NC but found brand new at a Texas thrift shop). Maybe she will sit still for some time to play with the shirt.
She is here! No such luck on the being quieter today. Yesterday she dumped my thread drawer, today she went back for more. She has dumped her toys, riped a book, pulled stuff out of everywhere and it has been less than an hour since she arrived. All I want to do is curl up on the couch.
Here she is in one of her favorite past times, the dog water bowl! She now thinks she should put her head in anything with water and drink like a dog. I do mean anything! I have to watch the potty even closer now, after all there is a lot of water in there. (It does make it easier when we are out, she knows how to drink from a water fountain now though!)
However, like the old saying goes, the good thing about being a grandma is you can send them home at night... is it 5PM yet??
Do you ever wonder why your mind thinks as it does? I mean I will be involved in some cleaning, you know the mindless work that you just do and do not need to think about, and I find myself thinking random thoughts. My husband and I clean offices at a plant near here and I was busy cleaning and my mind was miles and years away at some points. I was bouncing between two trains of thought, one was the things children say and what goes through their mind. The other was more on the same topic as this blog.
I will share my random thoughts with you and let you laugh, cry and ponder with me.
I was thinking about kids and the way they think and how God said to be like a little child. I thought back to when I was in the car with my family. I am not sure how old I was, maybe 12 or so, and we were riding along this road that had hills and twists. We came around a bend and there was a beautiful sunset. There were clouds in the sky and the sun was just partially visible, but the rays of light were following along the cloud and the horizon. My brother who was about 2 or 3 at the time looked up and said "look mommy, the sun is melting". Even at my age I thought it was pretty profound.
Another thought involving children was thinking about my granddaughter at my first husband's funeral. We were all at the funeral home and I decided to take Ivy up and talk to her about her Pop Pop and what was happening. The grand kids all loved their Pop Pop and Ivy spent a lot of time at our house and was actually at the campground when he died. I wanted to take special time to explain things to her since we were close.
Ivy was about 3 and full of questions. I carried her up to the casket and showed her Pop Pop and explained that it was just his body, but that Pop Pop had gone to heaven and was no longer in his body. Ivy stared for a few minutes and asked about why his hands were the way they were. I just told her that was the way they put them. She then asked why his eyes were closed.
The "eye" conversation went something like this:
Me: His eyes are closed because he is dead and it looks better to have his eyes closed.
Ivy: Will he ever open them?
Me: no
~a time of pondering~
Ivy: So he can't see anymore?
Me: no
Ivy: He will never open his eyes?
Me: No, Ivy. He is in heaven and this is just his body, he does not need this body anymore. God will give him a new one that is not sick.
~more pondering~
Ivy: So he will never open his eyes again?
Me: no
Ivy: Then why in the world did you put his watch on him?
Why indeed?
My mind was thinking of more things with kids too, but then it went to thoughts about the older generation teaching the younger. I thought about how it is in my heart as the previous blog said and wondered how this can happen.
My thinking then took another turn!
I began to think of how the younger generation has taught me things. Beth and Jessica were friends at Grace College and I loved Beth. I thought the two of them were a bit crazy together, but that is what made it fun. Now, I am not sure how many years later, these two are grown, married and have kids of there own. I am the older one and need to teach them, yet today I have been thinking about how they are teaching me. They have been my blog advisers. I had no idea what to do with a blog, they encouraged, corrected, helped and pushed me. They showed me carnivals and how they work and got me into Frugal Friday where more people have been teaching me. Beth and Jessica have been showing me the CVS ropes and directing me to sites to help me shop at CVS and save money. Yes, there is a trick to CVS shopping!
So, I sit here now, thinking about why I had such random thoughts today. God directs our thoughts if we allow it, but I am not sure what the purpose of these were, or are. But I am sharing them with you.
I am thankful for the younger people in my life and hope we can all learn from each other.
I am tired! I have a love/hate relationship with computers and mine has put me through the test the last few days. If anyone has an answer let me know!
I have a baby granddaughter that lives in NC. I live in Texas. I want her to know her Grammie like the other grandchildren do and finally saved my pennies to buy a web cam. I have wanted one for a long time, even when the other's were babies, but could never get one. Finally I got one and it came with an ear phone and mic. Friday I installed the webcam and mic. My granddaughter could see me, but the mic will not work. Frustration!
Today we had to go to the hospital to see my step son and on the way back we stopped at several places to try to get advice on the mic. We even asked the Geek Squad at Best Buy! Everyone said plug it in, change the sound card device manager so it knows there is a mic and it will work. (we already tried this a dozen times). I came home, went through it all again, headset works, mic does not!
Here is it, 8PM, I have spent all day and have a messy house and still no mic. You can see me but not hear me, I guess for some that is the way they like it. UGH.
We did see our son and he is doing some better from the accident. He still needs prayer as he is going to be going through re constructive surgery this week. There is still much pain, but when they try to rebuild the arm he will be hurting even more.
So, now that I have had an unproductive day, and an unproductive blog, I will say goodnight. Unless I kill my computer I will try to have more to offer next time.
I have been asked many questions about raising kids and now grand kids. For some reason since I had 5 kids and now have 15 grand kids people think I am a pro. There have been questions like:
